misbode

Etymology

From mis- + bode.

Why this word is great

MISBODE — [Verb] To sense or foreshadow impending disaster incorrectly, or to portend the future in error. From mis- ("wrongly, badly") + bode ("to portend, foreshadow"). Unlike "forebode" (which implies a genuine omen) or "predict" (which is neutral in its accuracy), "misbode" is the chill down your spine when the phone rings—only for it to be a wrong number, the dream of falling that doesn’t precede any real calamity, or the way a perfectly ordinary Tuesday can feel like the edge of an abyss. It is Cassandra’s curse without the tragedy, the shadow of a storm that never comes, leaving you braced for a blow that never lands. A reminder that dread, too, can be a kind of illusion.

verb

  1. To sense or foreshadow impending disaster.“So, on the other hand, when the Day of Grace is set, 'tis easy to imagine how much that Conscience' that now misbodes and condemns us, will be filled with greater and intolerable Despair ;”
  2. To foreshadow the future incorrectly.“This was similar to the Rambam's comment that the prophets would be misboded when they would want to attain prophecy, suggesting a link between davening and the prophetic state.”